This article is from page 20 of the 2012-09-18 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 20 JPG
RESCUE services recovered a body from the foot of the Cliffs of Moher on Friday, five days after the body was initially sighted.
A number of attempts to recover the body from the bottom of the 600-foot-high cliffs had been attempted last week but dangerous conditions created by high winds had prevented a number of attempts made by the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard.
The body, believed to be that of an Eastern European woman, was spotted at the foot of the Cliffs of Moher on Monday evening last, September 10, by a group of tourists walking north of Hag’s Head.
The Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard made several unsuccessful attempts to reach the body by boat last week and had been planning to abseil down the 600-foot-high cliff on Friday morning, but discovered that the tide had washed the body off the cliff edge.
Search teams continued to walk the cliff tops conducting visual searches of the waters below in the hope that the body would surface. Just before 2pm on Friday, a Cliffs Ranger from the Cliffs of Moher Visitors Experience, spotted the body in the sea and raised the alarm.
The body was located and recovered from the water by the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard in an area about 200 metres north-west of the main viewing platform at the Cliffs of Moher.
The body was recovered from the water and taken to the pier at Doolin from where it was taken to the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick for a post mortem examination.
A number of other rescue services, including the Killaloe Unit of the Irish Coastguard and the Shannon- based rescue helicopter, had taken part in the recovery attempts.
If the body had not been washed free of the cliffs, two members of the Doolin Unit of the Irish Coastguard had planned to abseil down the cliff on Friday and collect the body.
A large abseil like this could have taken more than six hours to complete and is considered dangerous in fine weather and extremely dangerous if any wind or poor weather takes place.